Search

Subseries I.10: Themes is a section of research files that Brenman-Gibson kept, which document her developing ideas on themes for the Clifford Odets biography. She delves into ideas such as creativity, psychoanalysis, sex, and relations that Odets' had with men, women, and his family and children.

Subseries I.11: General Files is an assortment of files that did not fit in with the previous subseries. It consists of administrative and financial files, as well as logistics related to a trip that Brenman-Gibson took to California in 1965 to conduct research for her biography. There are two folders with material related to Odets' friend, Harold Clurman. Several files contain material from Virginia Rowe, who was both Odets' secretary, and later an assistant to Brenman-Gibson. Additionally, there are articles, clippings, notes, and notebooks. One of the notebooks is entitled, "Birdseye" and offers a broad summary of Odets' life.

Subseries I.12: Rolodex consists of Brenman-Gibson's rolodex of index cards. The index cards document the people with whom Brenman-Gibson conducted interviews as well as their correspondence.

Subseries I.1: Chronological Notebooks consists of the notebooks that Brenman-Gibson compiled during the course of writing her biography on Clifford Odets. The notebooks outline each year of Odets' life; the overviews provided by Odets' own original correspondence, diaries, and notes, but also from interviews Brenman-Gibson conducted with Odets' family, friends, and acquaintances. Odets' secretary, Virginia Rowe, worked with Brenman-Gibson during the course of her work on the biography. She provides her own recollections and summaries for each chronological notebook. The notebooks begin with an "early chronology", summarizing Odets' childhood, and then follow yearly from 1924-1963, the year Odets died. There are also notebooks entitled, "Aftermath", which trace the years following Odets' death.